One of the biggest stories in the world of popular music is singer Mariah Carey’s resurrection from a broken has-been dropped by her record label to this year’s sentimental Grammy Awards favorite. Whether or not one cares for her five-octave singing, her story resonates for anyone who’s ever been down in life. It’s always nice to know that it’s possible to come back strong when we stumble.

 

What are the planets that supported Mariah Carey’s comeback? First, an individual horoscope must show native signs of strength, the ability to get up off the mat and keep on fighting. Mariah Carey's horoscope (displayed at the end of this article) is strong in cardinal and fire planets. Although her birth time is not known—and therefore we cannot ascertain her Moon sign (although it’s either Sagittarius or Scorpio) and house cusps—we do know that she has four planets in cardinal signs, four in fire. She does not know the meaning of surrender. (Of course, individuals with a predominance of fixed or mutable signs can survive, too—fixed signs through perseverance and mutable signs through resiliency).

 

In addition, Mariah Carey has a Mars-Saturn conjunction in Taurus, a sign which has a great ability to shoulder any burden and persevere, to walk through hell without buckling and come out the other side. Mars conjunct Saturn can, in the words of Bil Tierney, “…underscore the drive to act in a self-sufficient manner, without support from others. Both can show the determination to persist in the face of opposition. Both can be tough, with strong survival abilities.” Mars is in its detriment in Taurus (but it is exalted in Saturn’s sign of Capricorn). Mars can be tough fuel for Saturn. The toughness and survival instincts of both planets are strengthened in Taurus.

 

For any of you who are Vedic astrology buffs: In Carey’s Vedic chart, Saturn becomes debilitated (as does Mercury), while Venus is exalted and Mars is strongly placed in its own sign (thus partially cancelling out the Saturn debilitation).

 

Couple this with the close Jupiter-Saturn opposition in Mariah Carey’s horoscope, an aspect which shows difficulty in achieving fulfillment and satisfaction in life. One is never quite there yet. There is always more to do and self-fulfillment becomes illusive. Both these aspects, Mars-Saturn and Jupiter-Saturn, also set up Mariah Carey for stress in life because of a constant, unrelenting need to fill Saturn’s hole, to deal actively with Saturn’s needs.

 

Mariah Carey was the biggest-selling musical artist of the 1990’s. She had fourteen #1 singles, a record bested only by Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Then, in July, 2001—as transiting Neptune exactly squared her Saturn—Carey suffered an emotional and physical breakdown and checked into a psychiatric hospital. She had been touring to promote a new album and a poorly reviewed movie, Glitter, in which she starred. A few months later, her record company bought out her contract. This followed on the heels of her separation from her husband (and head of Columbia Records), Tommy Mottola. Soon after, her father died.

 

True to her cardinal nature and the planetary symbols outlined above, she got back up, signed with another recording company and released an album. This year, while Saturn began squaring her Jupiter and Mars-Saturn conjunction, she came out with an album many reviewers said was her best in years, The Emancipation of Mimi. It has been nominated for eight Grammy awards, including best album. One of the songs from that album, “We Belong Together,” was the #1 single of 2005.

 

See also: Kanye West; Fiona Apple; Shakira